Thailand
Facts:-
Part 1 - Bangkok to Chiang Mai and on to border with Laos
Day 320 - Thursday 25th May 2006 - arriving in Thailand
...9 hours later we arrived in Bangkok and caught the airport bus to Khao San Road - backpacker central. It was already 1am and unfortunately we started by walking the wrong way down the road so it was quite a while before we got to Siam Guest House II. However, we did manage to secure a good price (500 Baht, about $12) for a rather nice room with fan, private bathroom, firm bed and nice decor.
Day 321 - Friday 26th May 2006 - north to Lopburi
After almost 6 hours sleep, we woke and started making some plans for the next couple of days. After checking out of the hotel and grabbing some breakfast from one of the many tourist restaurants on Khao San Road. We got a taxi to Hua Lamphong Station. This took ages as traffic was almost at a standstill, but we got there eventually. We ignored the taxi driver's advice to buy our tickets from a travel agent and went straight to the ticket desk in the station where we managed to buy tickets for our 4 hour journey to Lopburi for only 27 Baht each (about 40p) each - OK, we were sitting on hard wooden seats but, given the heat, it was probably better than sitting on plastic upholstered seats and we could open the windows wide.
We enjoyed the breeze and the warm weather and watched the Thailand countryside pass us by through the open window, we even managed to snooze a bit. At about 2.15pm, we arrived in Lopburi and as the first hotel we looked at had a decent room for 200 Baht (about $5) we checked in and then headed out to find some lunch. Around the corner, we snacked on a couple of street-side kebabs before finding a small cafe whose menu was entirely in Thai. Nikki managed to look up and pronounce the word for 'noodles', Ian pointed to the wok and we held up 2 fingers for 2 portions - it all worked nicely and we got some tasty bowls of pork, green veg and noodles in gravy for 50 Baht total including 2 drinks - hooray! Before we left, another customer taught us how to say thank you in Thai but this was hard enough and we decided that learing one word or phrase of Thai a day would be our limit.
We then decided to look at some of the ruins around town. Some were already closed, so we ended up at Phra Prang Sam Yot where we had to be careful not to be mugged by the monkeys - there were hundreds of them and some were very cheeky! We then rested and showered (did we mention how hot and humid it was - at least 35°C) back at the hotel before heading out the the White House Garden Restaurant for dinner. We had a really excellent meal and a few Chang beers - we were given an Everton FC beer towel (Chang sponsor them) - we'd obviously drunk enough of it to qualify for a free gift. There was also a couple of live bands to entertain us. It looked as if these bands were the girls' and the boys' high school bands, but they were both surprisingly good.
Day 322 - Saturday 27th May 2006 - Lopburi and on to Sukhothai
We were wandering around looking for breakfast when we passed a man who recognised us from the night before in the White House Garden Restaurant, which he apparently owned. He offered (more like - insisted) on taking us to a place for some inexpensive breakfast. Of course, it turned out that we ended up at the same place where we had had lunch the day before, but this was fine by us. All sorts of food was offered and we ended up with fried chicken, sticky rice and noodle soup - far too much food and far too expensive. We suspected that this wasn't the true price and that 'our friendly bloke' was taking some commission - how else could breakfast be over 3 times the price of our lunch the day before!
We felt a bit ripped off but continued with our plan to visit Phra Narau Ratchaniwet (King Narai's Palace) and the Lopburi National Museum. No-one was in the ticket booth so we strolled on through. There was one interesting room of artefacts with plenty of information in English, but the second museum building comprised many (ruins of) Buddha statues and was not quite so interesting. We walked around the grounds past remains of elephant stables and water tanks etc., plus some interestingly groomed bushes in the shape of elephants.
We had heard about the floods in North-eastern Thailand, but couldn't find out many details or where exactly or how bad things were currently. In any case, everyone around us seemed to be getting on with life as normal, so we returned to the hotel collected our stuff and headed for the train station in time to catch the 10am train to Phitsanulok. We decided to go for 3rd class again which was absolutely fine, although we did have plastic upholstered seats this time. We weren't planning to eat lunch on the train but there was so much tasty-looking food being offered by passing food vendors that it was oly a matter of time before we gave in. We ended up with a couple of trays of rice with stir-fried meat and chilli oil in separate plastic bags - they turned out to be quite tricky to eat but satisfying and filling. We also snacked on some sweet banana chips which were also surprisingly tasty.
We got to Phitsanulok and decided to walk for a few minutes to a hotel where the LP indicated the bus to Sukhothai would pass, rather than pay for a tuk-tuk out to the bus station a few kilometres away. However, this was not before a couple of guys from our train - one spoke a little English and the other was a monk (in training?) had made sure that we knew where we were going and wished us 'much fun and happiness' - ah! We did actually have to check with the hotel porter exactly where the bus stop was but before too long we were on an air-con (i.e. you can't open the windows, but do have some directable air blowing down towards you) bus to Sukhothai.
On arrival at the new bus station, we bargained down a chartered 'local bus' (a sawnthaeng, which is really just a small truck with a couple of padded benches in the back, one down each side) to take us to our reserved hotel, the Lotus Village. We were very hot and sweaty by the time we arrived but our room was lovely - first (top) floor room with balcony, with everything made of dark teak wood. It came complete with a nice bathroom (including a hot shower should we want it) and flowers on the bedspread - just like honeymoon! This was our treat for our 1 year wedding anniversary weekend and one of the reasons for leaving Australia so soon - we didn't think we could afford to splurge in Australia but at 780 Baht (about $20) for this place, we could really enjoy ourselves. We had much needed showers and relaxed for a couple of hours before venturing out to the night market stalls for dinner. We managed to find a vendor with a menu in English and so we quickly sat down and ordered. The food was pretty good and very cheap, so much so that Ian had seconds!
Day 323 - Sunday 28th May 2006 - Our 1 year wedding anniversary in Sukhothai
We enjoyed our included Lotus breakfast of toast with jam, yoghurt, fruit juice and fresh coffee before taking a short walk to find a 'local bus' out to Sukhothai Old City and the Sukhothai Historical Park. We thought that the 12km journey might take about 20 minutes but, although we had seen that the river in the New city was actuallt higher than the city itslef (they have a big concrete retaining wall all along that part of the river!) we soon saw how high the river actually was outside the city centre and realised it might take a bit longer. Soon we came to a road block, which our bus ignored and we headed along the highway axle-deep in water. We weren't sure how frequently this area sees floods like this but no-one seemed particularly upset or distraught. Lots of people were walking or riding scooters through the water, seemingly unfazed, some were on mobile phones and three girls on one scooter just behind us seemed to be having great fun although they were pretty wet!
We eventually arrived at the Old City where, fortunately, the roads were dry. We had soon hired ourselves a couple of single-gear bikes and rode around to the ticket office. Then, we started our sightseeing tour itself at the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum which had lots of Buddha statues and other artefacts, many in the 'Sukhothai style' (Sukhothai used to be the capital of a significant Thai kingdom). Back on the bikes, we rode to the Wat Mahathat, the largest of the wats remaining in Sukhothai. Here, there were a large collection of ruins (including stupas - small upturned cone-like structures - and some large Buddhas) around a central temple.
Just around the corner, along near deserted roads, was Wat Si Sawai. This Wat had 3 Phrangs (towers) typical of a Hindu temple. Next we stopped at Wat Traphang Ngoen before walking a little further out onto one of the islands to enjoy views of this wat back across the lake. Wat Sa Si was another temple complex on an island with one of a few small walking Buddhas. It was about lunchtime by now so we cycled back towards the ticket office where we found lots of small restaurants. It was almost impossible to choose which one to eat at and we were even offered the same menu by 2 different places. We were happy with our choice in the end - Nikki had stir-fried rice and Ian noodle soup - and it only came to 60 Baht (about $1.50) including drinks.
Having explored most of the central zone, we headed out of the city walls to the north and took a turning across a bridge over a moat to Wat Phra Phai Luang. This was noticeably more ruined and less well restored than some of the wats in the central zone but one of the stupa still had some intricate stucco designs on show. We then continued round to Wat Si-Chum which had an enormous seated Buddha statue filling almost the whole temple. A monk was meditating nearby but stopped to say hello to us (unfortunately we hadn't quite learnt how to say hello back but we made a note to learn it today).
We then decided to check out some of the wats south of the city but on the way back through the central zone, we caught sight of Wat Sorasak and went to have a closer look. This wat was supported by numerous columns of stone elephants which made for a good photo opportunity. When we eventually reached the wats south of town we could see that that they were generally in worse condition that the others we had already seen. We stopped at Wat Chetuphon as the LP mentioned 4 large Buddha statues - standing sitting, walking, reclining (one of each) - but there was not much left of them and it took some imagination to work out where they all were. We then had a bit of a cycle round to the east side of the city and stopped at a small still-in-use temple - Wat Traphang Thong.
We returned the bikes, stocked up on some more water and were almost immediately back on the same bus we had arrived on. It was another interesting journey home as the water was even higher in some places than it had been earlier in the day. We saw some locals being very resourceful and fishing with nets in the middle of the flooded street, while others were just lolling about in the water, keeping themselves cool. We returned to our guesthouse for much needed showers and bought some ice for Nikki's belated nameday present - a small bottle of Bailey's (from duty-free in Sydney airport). Later we opened our Shiraz Pizzaz we had bought in Margaret River and were lucky enough to borrow some champagne glasses from the guesthouse (we weren't sure it would have tasted quite as nice out of our blue plastic mugs!). We then went out for dinner at the Dream Café (recommended by one of the guys working at the guesthouse as well as the LP). We shared a starter of really fabulous fresh spring rolls and then Ian had a massaman curry while Nikki had beef in oyster sauce. We even splurged on ice creams for pudding!
Day 324 - Monday 29th May 2006 - Lazing around in Sukhothai
We had a bit of a lie in this morning as Nikki wasn't feeling too well but we managed to get up for breakfast by 10am. We had considered going to see some more ruins but we weren't sure if they would be flooded and as Nikki wasn't on top form, we opted for a lazy day instead. We walked around the town for a while, picking up a few toiletries from the market and noted that the river level had actually fallen by a couple of feet although the road was still below the river level. We relaxed on our balcony for a bit, building up an appetite for lunch. We had planned to eat in the market as the food looked really good but unfortunately it seemed only available for takeaway in plastic bags. So, we ended up around the corner at a pavement restaurant, which was pretty good - again Ian even had 2 dishes.
We then decided we should treat ourselves to a thai massage and so popped into the massage place near our guesthouse. We lay on mats next to each other and were pummelled, slapped and stretched for over an hour. It was very good but a bit painful at times! We finished with a cup of yellow tea and we certainly felt loosened up. We followed this with more relaxing on our balcony and later briefly used the internet next door. Nikki escaped back to the room before the torrential downpour arrived but Ian got stuck in the internet café (he obviously didn't believe her forecast!) and had to wait for the rain to ease a bit, although he still got wet on the way home! We decided it was too wet for dinner at the night market again so decided to try out another LP recommendation - Sukhothai Suki-Koka. The food was decent enough but the place was a bit lacking in atmosphere.
Day 325 - Tuesday 30th May 2006 - on to Chiang Mai
We enjoyed another leisurely morning. After breakfast, Ian walked to the post office to post a couple of parcels home and then we packed up and showered at the last minute before checking out of the guesthouse. Rather than catching a ride to the bus terminal, we decided to walk to a nearer bus stop, although it turned out to be a bit further than we had thought. We weren't sure how long we would have to wait for a bus back to Phitsanulok (the LP suggested there were 2 an hour) and one eventually arrived after about 45 minutes. Since we didn't get on at the bus station, we had to take our backpacks on the bus with us wher they blocked the aisle for the rest of the journey. An hour later we were in Phitsanulok and walked back to the station in plenty of time for the 12.59 train to Chiang Mai (3rd class). However, at the ticket counter, we found out that this train had been cancelled and we had no choice but to catch the 13.55 'Express Special Diesel Car' train with only 2nd class air-conditioned carriages for 440 Baht each - about 3 times the price of our preferred train. We killed some time by having lunch at one of the station restaurants. During this time we thought we saw the 12.59 train pass through and wondered if we had been ripped off and persuaded to buy more expensive tickets unecessarily.
Eventually we boarded our train and were immediately disappointed - the carriage lacked character and looked like an old and dirty version of an old and dirty British train. Of course you couldn't open the windows. Worse, the double-glazed window next to our seats had failed and filled with water and condensation, so you couldn't see out. Fortunately though, we were able to move seats to a window we could see through and were able to appreciate the scenery again. Nikki had noticed on our train timetable that there was supposed to be a meal included with our tickets and we wondered when we might get this - around dinner time we hoped. However, it turned out to be almost immediately. More chicken and rice with bamboo shoots and dumplings. We obviously weren't hungry but somehow managed to polish off most of this 2nd lunch (Ian had no problems...).
We were just starting to settle into the journey and feeling a bit snoozey after all that food, when we arrived at the 1st major station. Lots of people were getting off and then we noticed that everyone was getting off. We wondered what was going on until a friendly chap with reasonable English explained to us that the next section of the track was closed due to flooding and we had to go by bus for a bit. We got off the train and realised the station was Uttaradit which we had seen on the news because of the flooding and so it all made sense. Everyone was on the replacement bus quickly and we were soon on our way. The bus journey took about an hour (Ian managed to sleep again!) and when we got to Den Chai station, a train was already there waiting for us - this was all very smooth, much more efficient than rail replacement buses in the UK! We boarded the train and realised that this one was a sleeper - we hoped this didn't reflect how long it might take to complete our journey to Chiang Mai! The train stewardess soon came round with another snack for us - Nikki was looking forward to her sausage roll until Ian discovered it was actually a peanut pastry instead. We still had a long journey ahead of us and so we read a lot and shivered for the last couple of hours as the air-con was too chilly.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 8.30pm (only 45mins later than scheduled) and were persuaded to check out a hotel by an enthusiastic lady at the train station. However, when the taxi dropped us there, we found that the cheap rooms turned out to be overly basic (cold shower, no towels or toilet paper) and on the 6th floor without a lift. So we paid the agreed price for our minibus from the station and wandered further into the city centre to try and find something better. We wandered around for about an hour in light rain - lots of places were either full or more expensive than we wanted to pay. We eventually settled on Your House 2. We were pretty tired and since we'd had 2 lunches and not done any exercise, we decided we didn't need dinner and so went straight to bed.
Day 326 - Wednesday 31st May 2006 - Chiang Mai
We had breakfast at the Blue Diamond Café. The food was very nice and Nikki got to try her first Thai hill-tribe coffee which was also good. We wandered around Chiang Mai for a while, trying to find a better room for the next few days. We checked out about 6 or 7 places before finding the Chiang Mai Kristi House which was not only nice, but also cheaper than all the other options we had looked at. We soon moved in. After catching up with some e-mails on the internet we wandered around the local market looking for some lunch. Although the food looked good, we again had the problem that it was mostly for takeaway only. However, just around the corner, in front of a chemist which also sold shoes (!), we interrupted a man about to help himself to his lunch in order to serve us with some of it too. He had a big pot of red pork curry which smelt so good we couldn't resist. It tasted pretty good too and at only 15 Baht (20p) for a bowl of curry with rice we were very happy. We still had room for some fried bananas for pudding though.
We then spent some time investigating our options for taking some thai cookery classes. There are many cooking schools in Chiang Mai although we only really looked at 2 which had been recommended in the LP. They both sounded good but the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School seemed to be a bit more professional so we chose this one and returned to their office to sign up for the following day.
Next it was time for a bit of culture so we walked to Wat Chiang Man, thought to be the oldest temple in Chiang Mai at over 400 years old. There wasn't a lot to see there but the main temple contained 2 important Buddha statues, one made of crystal which came from Lopburi and one of marble which was brought over from either Sri Lanka or India.
For dinner we ventured across the moat (the old centre of Chiang Mai is a square approximately 1km by 1km surrounded by a moat on all 4 sides) to Aroon Rai Restaurant, recommended in the LP for being authentic Thai food despite having a menu in English. We had some tasty spring rolls and then tried a couple of northern Thailand speciality pork curry dishes. They were nice but quite different to the coconut curries we were used to.
Day 327 - Thursday 1st June 2006 - Day 1, Chiang Mai Thai Cooking School
We had a quick breakfast at Kanjana restaurant, just down the road from our guesthouse, and then just had enough time to burn our Australia photos onto a couple of cds before we were due at cooking school.
We were the last 2 to arrive and, after some quick intros, we were soon whisked off to the local market. Meow showed a group of us around the market, explaining some of the fruit and vegetables on display - some were familiar to us but not all. Among other things, we were introduced to 3 different types of basil (holy basil, sweet basil and lemon basil), 2 types of eggplant (neither of which looked anything like the aubergines we are used to), 'sticky rice' (a northern Thailand favourite apparently) and learned how to get both coconut cream and coconut milk from a coconut.
We then had a 20 minute minibus ride out to the school itself which was at a very nice house in a posh suburb. The house belonged to Sompon Nabnian, a Thai celebrity TV chef who set up the cooking school. We were each given a cooking station to work at and we donned our tasteful Chiang Mai Thai Cooking School aprons which were there waiting for us. We then proceeded to the classroom for Lesson 1 - Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup (Tom Kha Gai). We watched (with the aid of a big mirror on the ceiling) as they expertly whipped up this delicious-smelling soup and then it was our turn to have a go. All the ingredients were ready for us at our stations - we just had to chop them to size and cook them in the right order. Once we had made our soups it was time to sample our cooking and it was pretty good, even if we did say so ourselves.
Then it was back to the classroom to watch how to make Fried Mixed Mushrooms with Baby Corn (Phad Hed Ruam Khao Pod Orn). This was a very quick dish to make, even for us, and we were soon eating again. Red Curry With Fish (Gaeng Phed Plaa) and Fried, Big Noodles With Thick Sauce (Raad Nah Muu) followed but we waited for both to be ready before sitting down to eat them for lunch. It was a lot of food and we both felt very full afterwards. Ian in particular wasn't feeling so well and was struggling to eat his food but we still had 2 more dishes to learn to cook and eat!
After lunch, Ahn showed us how to cook Steamed Banana Cake (Khanom Kluay). We prepared this and left it steaming in a banana leaf "dish" while Meow showed us how to make a Spicy Papaya Salad (Som Tam) which was meant to be eaten by hand with sticky rice. We both really liked the steamed banana cake but struggled to finish it, while the Spicy Papaya salad was certainly very spicy! Meanwhile, wet season had arrived in Chiang Mai and torrential rain was pouring down outside. After a very busy day, we were finally done and we paddled out to the minibus for a ride back into town.
Unfortunately, Ian was feeling much worse by now and shivered all the way home in the air-conditioned minibus. When we got back to our room he went straight to bed to try and recover. He got worse before he got better and by this time Nikki was also feeling pretty terrible. We will spare you the details and just say that neither of us left our room for the rest of the night and we were very glad we had an en-suite bathroom!
Day 328 - Friday 2nd June 2006 - Day 2, Chiang Mai Thai Cooking School
We were still not quite on top form this morning although both of us were feeling better. We managed a simple breakfast of bread and jam and decided that we were probably well enough to go back to school today. We were a bit late though and, almost as soon as we arrived, we were whisked off to the market again. We were learning a bit more about local ingredients, this time by selecting and buying items from the stalls. We were each given an item to buy for today's dishes. Several people helped Nikki select 55 large white prawns while Ian had the simpler task of buying a large bunch of bananas. Then it was off in the minibus to the school.
The 1st dish today was Fried Big Noodles With Sweet Soy Sauce (Phad Siewe) which we ate as soon as it was ready. Then, Karn showed us how to cook Steamed Fish In Banana Leaves (Hor Neung Plaa), the trickiest part of which was folding up the mixture in the banana leaf without tearing the leaf (some Thai dancing was necessary for this!). We left these steaming while Sompon himself appeared to show us how to cook Yellow Curry With Chicken (Gaeng Garee Gai) and Chicken With Cashew Nuts (Gai Phad Med Mamuang). We then had all 3 of these dishes for lunch - far too much for our delicate stomachs but at least the yellow curry was mild.
Of course, there were still 2 more dishes to go in the afternoon - Bananas in Coconut Milk (Kluay Buad Chee) and Spicy Prawn Salad North-Eastern Style (Plaah Goong). Back in town we needed to rest up in our room for a bit before venturing out to dinner. We decided to eat in Ratana's Kitchen although we got a bit wet walking there in the rain. Ian enjoyed his meal but Nikki was not so impressed with hers, not that she had much of an appetite still. She did enjoy her passion fruit juice though while Ian was already back on the Chang.
Day 329 - Saturday 3rd June 2006 - Relaxing day in Chiang Mai
No school today - we felt we needed a bit of a rest and had a lie in. After breakfast at Thai Thai Kitchen, we spent the rest of the morning in the internet café typing up diary entries. We then had lunch back at the Kanjana Restaurant (we hope this wasn't where we got ill from!)
We then decided to visit Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai's most visited Buddhist temple, and so headed out on foot. Some very black clouds were looming ahead and we thought we might get wet en route but it was still dry when we arrived. This temple, which is still in use, was much more impressive than any of the others we'd seen. One of the guys 'supervising visitors' (making sure they were appropriately dressed etc) came over to us and told us a bit about the temple and explained that the monks were preparing for a holy day tomorrow. The rain did come down eventually but luckily we could shelter in the temple and it soon passed.
We returned to the eastern side of town and decided to get another massage. Nikki was a bit disappointed with her foot massage (not hard enough) and Ian's thai massage was also quite gentle compared to the ones we had in Sukhothai. We then went back to the room to relax.
We had planned to visit the famous Chiang Mai Night Bazaar tonight but decided it was too wet. Instead we tried another LP-recommended restaurant, Jok Somphet. We had some nice dim sum to start but then had some very dull main courses. Nikki decided to try the restaurant speciality - Mashed Rice Soup - but it was pretty much just mashed rice in chicken soup (a consistency not dissimilar to semolina). Meanwhile Ian had some noodles with chicken and veg but this was also quite dull and lacking in spices.
We weren't really satisfied with this for a Saturday night's entertainment so went to find a bar for a few drinks. We ended up in the 'Roots, Rock, Reggae' bar. Initially it was very quiet and we sipped on a couple of beers and watched a simply enormous fish in a tank (you had to see it!). The bar gradually got busier as the night went on and later a reasonable reggae cover band began to play. We quite enjoyed it and decided to treat ourselves to a couple of cheap mojitos although they turned out to be the worst mojitos we'd ever had. Consequently, Ian wasn't too upset when he knocked his on the floor!
Day 330 - Sunday 4th June 2006 - Day 3, Chiang Mai Thai Cooking School
Back to Thai Thai Kitchen for breakfast of banana pancake (Ian) and french toast (Nikki) before heading back to cooking school again. Today we weren't the last to arrive and there was a very big group (about 25). No market visit today and so we headed straight out to the house, although it was quite a slow start with so many people. We were introduced to a new teacher today, Weaw, who took us through a thorough Introduction to Thai Ingredients in the classroom. It was mostly stuff we had already learnt but hopefully this would mean we had a better chance of remembering it for longer.
The first dish today was Thai Hot And Sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yam Goong), one of Ian's favourites, even when we'd cooked it. It was nice and easy and quick, especially since the prawns were already prepared for us. Then Sompon showed us how to make Thai Style Fish Cakes (Tord Man Plaa). This basically involved mixing a lot of ingredients together before deep frying (which was mostly done for us). They were served with a spicy cucumber sauce which Nikki didn't like but Ian enjoyed. After these it was time for a couple of Thai classic dishes - Green Curry With Chicken (Gaeng Kheo Wan Gai) and Thai Fried Noodles (Phad Thai), again with Sompon. We enjoyed these two for lunch and it was probably our favourite lunch of the 3 days. Sompon even tasted Ian's green curry and gave his approval, much to Ian's delight.
After lunch, we made Water Chestnuts With Sugar Syrup And Coconut Milk (Tab Tim Grob) which was quite fiddly and involved dying the water chestnuts pink with food colouring and boiling. The finished product was ok but neither of us thought we would make it again. We also made Minced Pork Northern Style (Nam Prik Ong) which was a small spicy salad served with cucumber (again not to Nikki's taste!).
Thanks very much to Peter, Tina & Thomas Burton for "sponsoring" this part of our trip!
It had been a much more leisurely day today and we were still at the school at 4pm. Back in town, Ahn recommended that we check out the Sunday market which was in the process of being set up. We squeezed in a couple of hours on the internet and a short rest and then went to investigate what the market had to offer. We soon realised that it stretched much farther than we first thought - it covered a number of roads and thousands of people were there browsing, buying, eating and generally soaking up the atmosphere. We walked aorund admiring the handicrafts, avoiding street performers - some of which looked like they were only 3 or 4 years old. We grazed on a couple of portions of noodles and some spring rolls and then bought ourselves a few souvenirs - you can't argue with 85 Baht (about $2.25) for a silk tie! After a couple of hours we left the market and tried a new bar - Chiang Mai Saloon - for a couple of beers to finish the evening.
Day 331 - Monday 5th June 2006 - Doi Suthep and finding a trek
We were both feeling quite tired this morning but we wanted to do some sightseeing so forced ourselves to get up. We had breakfast at the aptly named 'OK restaurant' and then began our quest to get to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, 16km north-west of Chiang Mai. We knew that we had to catch a sawngthaew from near the University or Zoo (4km out of town) to get up to Doi Suthep and so we caught another sawngthaew from the centre of town and asked to be taken to this 'sawngthaew station'. We were surprised when we were dropped off not very far away but there was a sawngthaew for Doi Suthep waiting there with a couple of people in it and so we thought it would be fine. However, we soon realised that we might not get there for a long time as the driver wanted a full bus (8 people) and no-one else looked like they wanted to go our way. We contemplated trying to get to the university in the hope of more buses but in the end we were offerred a trip leaving almost immediately for only 10 Baht more by another driver and so we agreed to go with him.
It was a long and winding, steep road up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples. Once out of the sawngthaew, we still had to climb 300 steps up to the temple itself. At the top we found a very impressive gold-coloured copper stupa in the centre topped by an ornate golden umbrella. There were also lots of Buddha statues all around, mostly in gold or copper, and also lots of bells. We wandered around the complex, took some photos, and had a look over Chiang Mai from the well-place viewpoint. However, we could see a dark shower cloud heading towards us and so decided to shelter in the tiny museum. The museum had many cluttered Buddhas and other artefacts but very little explanation (or room to move!).
Having explored the museum in about 5 minutes, we just about made it to the shelter of a small coffee shop next to the temple before the really heavy rain arrived. Nikki had a coffee while we sheltered and after a few minutes we were joined by another couple of tourists - Steve from USA and his friend from Japan. We chatted to Steve for a while about our travels and his, but his friend spoke little English.
We had been planning to continue on to Doi Pui National Park to do a bit of walking but, given the weather, we decided not to. Steve offerred us a lift back into town in their rented car which we accepted. It turned out that Steve didn't have a license, hadn't driven for 10 years and didn't really know what a clutch was for! so it was an interesting journey but we arrived back in one piece!
We had lunch at Thai Thai Kitchen and then went round a few 'travel agents' offering treks. There were so many places offering very similar treks that it was very difficult to choose, we even had to sit down with a beer to help us decide :-). In the end we decided on a 3-day 'off the beaten track' trek with Panda Tours and negotiated a small discount.
We rested up for a while before trying out the night market along the southern moat of the city for dinner. Ian got a bit too adventurous in selecting some 'chicken' kebabs but he soon found a grateful dog to pass them on to. We therefore took the easy option and chose to eat at the only stall with an English menu. After dinner we tried to order a banana pancake from another stand for dessert but after waiting around for a few minutes, we discoved that their gas had run out. We consoled ourselves with a beer and a gin & tonic back at the Chiang Mai Saloon bar.
Day 332 - Tuesday 6th June 2006 - Day 1, Trek in Doi Chiang Dao National Park
We had a filling breakfast at the Blue Diamond Café which was very nice until we saw a rat wander past our table! (at least it didn't look like it had found anything to eat inside!) We were picked up from our guesthouse at 8.45am by the Panda Tours truck and taken to their office, collecting Toni (from New Zealand) on the way. After some faffing around, we finally set off on the trek around 10ish. There were 6 of us in total - us, Toni, Sylvia (from Germany) and G'Nell and Amber (from Texas) - plus Don our guide. We were a little confused between us as to which trek we were actually doing as 4 of us had booked on one including a visit to a Karen village, while the other 2 seemed to have booked on a different trek.
Still, off we went in the truck and an hour or so later we arrived at the Karen village. The Karen people are locally known as the "long necks", as the women use copper bands around their necks from an early age to lengthen them. The people here are actually refugees from Myanmar (Burma) who were allowed to live in Thailand but could not leave the village (and apparently had to put up with tourists popping in every day). The 4 of us who had paid extra for the tour (us, Amber & G'Nell) went down to see the village and take some photos. They apparently didn't mind having their photos taken but they did look a bit fed up which we thought was understandable. Most of the women there were weaving scarves and had lots of handicrafts for sale. Nikki bought a (fake) silk scarf.
We re-joined the others by which time it was time for lunch - stir-fried noodles. Then it was time to board our elephants. We climbed aboard (2 per elephant plus a mahut to try and control it) and started our meandering ride down the road. We soon left the road down a path, across a stream, through a river and some jungle for about an hour. It was very enjoyable and not as wobbly as we thought it might have been. Our elephant was very well behaved and even cleared a huge bamboo that was blocking the path, probably because he knew he would get to eat the fresh shoots from the top afterwards!
After the elephant ride it was back in the truck for another hour or to to the start of the trek, at a village called Ton Khan. The hike began with a very steep climb down along a muddy and slippy path - Nikki didn't enjoy this bit and hoped the whole trek would not be this difficult. However, after half an hour or so the going got a bit easier and after 1 ½ hours we arrived at a small waterfall. Here we were able to have a swim and wash all the mud off our legs and we relaxed for a while.
From the waterfall it was a short climb up the hill to a Black Lahu village called Pha Miang where we were to spend the first night. It was only a small village with about 6 families plus lots of dogs, chickens and pigs (in fact the dogs and pigs alone probably outnumbered the people!). All the houses were raised up on bamboo stilts, presumably to protect them from flooding. We were all to sleep in one house which had a 'kitchen' at one end and lots of sleeping mats around the rest of the 'house'. There was also a balcony area outside, also raised.
We had a short walk around the village and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing, alternating between the balcony and inside the house as it rained on and off. We had been lucky not to get wet while walking though. The balcony floor didn't feel very stable in some places and proved not to be when Nikki fell straight through it! Luckily only one leg went through and so she only got a bit of a bruise but it was also quite a shock. Don cooked us up some thai green chicken curry on the stove but it was surprisingly not spicy - he was obviously catering for tourists but we were a little disappointed. We then chatted to our fellow trekkers for a while but an early night was soon called for.
Day 333 - Wednesday 7th June 2006 - Day 2, Trek in Doi Chiang Dao National Park
A leisurely start - none of this getting up and out hiking by 8am like we were doing in New Zealand. We had some of Tesco's finest coffee, complete with Tesco creamer, to help wake us up! Nikki was very amused to have Tesco's coffee in the jungle in Thailand but the other trekkers weren't really familiar with the brand. Don also cooked us up some scrambled eggs with tomato and onion and some toast.
We finally set off on our hike at around 10am. We headed up the hill away from the village, walking mostly up a narrow and sloping trail on the steep hillside. After some time we stopped at a cave. Ian asked if we could go in but Don said he thought it was dangerous and so Ian put our head torches away again. We later found out that Don was actually scared to go in because he was scared of bats! A couple of the others did venture down a little way into the cave and confirmed that there were bats there but Ian decided he couldn't be bothered to dig the torches out of the rucksack again and so we stayed outside, trying not to be eaten alive by the many many mosquitoes around.
From the cave we returned to a road and followed this steeply uphill for about 40 minutes until we reached a village called Mon Fha Pha, belonging to the Mong tribe. We were extremely hot and sweaty when we arrived here and Ian even had to wring the sweat out of his t-shirt - yuck! We tucked into our 'packed lunch' we had been carrying which was fried rice wrapped in banana leaves. It was quite simple but tasty and filling. We notices that there weren't many villagers around and Don explained that they were mostly out in the fields planting cabbages and would return in the evening.
After a leisurely hour for lunch, we continued hiking uphill again, partly on a road and partly through the jungle. After half and hour or so, we emerged from the jungle out onto another track. We had some great views of the surrounding hills and took a few photos. Much of this area was farmland with local people busy working in the fields. We walked a bit further and eventually arrived at Pha Dang, a village belonging to the Red Lahu tribe. This village was much bigger than the one the previous night, with about 130 families.
As we entered the village we saw some locals de-husking rice 'by hand' which involved repeatedly pushing on a wooden lever which dropped a wooden block into the bowl of rice. It looked like a very slow process. While resting at our "house" there were a few rain showers interspersed with sunny spells and we showered in the basic bathroom and relaxed. A while later our lovely view over the valley disappeared completely and a really heavy downpour came down. We hid inside and played cards with Toni over a can or two of beer but the other 3 had gone out to explore the village and had to shelter in the village store until the rain stopped. Finally they returned and it was time for dinner. Today, Don had cooked up some potato soup and stir-fried pumpkin which was really tasty.
After dinner, we were treated to a 'show' by a few of the local girls. They arrived all dressed up in costumes, accompanied by a guy playing guitar and lots of little kids who wanted to join in with the singing and dancing but only if they could hide behind the girls. There was a lot of giggling and occasional forgetting of words but we enjoyed it all the same and so gave them a small tip for their efforts.
Another of the locals, a deaf and dumb guy who was a friend of Don's, also spent most of the evening hanging around our 'house'. He seemed to laugh at absolutely everything and was very keen on 'chatting' to the girls and trying to get their phone numbers although we had no idea what he thought he might do with them! G'Nell in particular tried quite hard to communicate with him as she could sign fluently, but she wasn't convinced that he had necessarily been taught to sign so it was quite difficult. Later in the evening he sat on the balcony with Don, Ian, G'Nell and Sylvia and they chatted and tried some local rice whiskey which tasted more like vodka. Eventually it was time for bed.
Day 334 - Thursday 8th June 2006 - Day 3, Trek in Doi Chiang Dao National Park
Another relaxed start with boiled eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast although it turned out not many of us had slept very well during the night. We think there were dogs running backwards and forwards along the balcony and Ian found a cat sleeping by our feet when he went to the toilet in the night which probably explained why Nikki thought there was someone or something in the house. Plus there were the usual night-time noises such as cockerels crowing and dogs barking etc etc.
Still we set off just before 10am and there wasn't quite so much walking today. We started off on a track heading very steeply downhill and everyone slipped at some point on this section. It felt fresher when we set off (after last night's rain) but we were soon dripping with sweat again. After a while the path levelled and we had a couple of rest stops by streams. After 1 ½ hours we reached a road along a river and we followed this to the start of our white-water rafting.
We had a bit of a wait before the rafting but suddenly it was all action. We loaded our bags into the truck and before we knew it we were in the raft having our 30-second safety briefing. This consisted of our guide simply saying "When I say go, you paddle. When I say back, you paddle back". Apparently that was all we needed to know (luckily we'd all rafted before)! Off we went down the river, through a couple of interesting rapids but with some long slow stretches between them. We decided our guide definitely needed more practise but we enjoyed rafting the 4km stretch in about half an hour and we managed not to lose anyone from the boat. We then transferred to some bamboo rafts. These were 'obviously' much safer as we were told to remove our lifejackets and helmets. We probably were quite safe as the water was fairly slow-moving and shallow but our guides spent most of the journey entertaining themselves by fighting with each other with the rafting poles!
Once this was over it was time for lunch at last - we were all very hungry as it was past 2pm by now. We were treated to a 3-course lunch of chicken soup, a very tasty Pad Thai and some fresh melon and pineapple for dessert. After this, though, unfortunately we had a very long wait for another group of tourists before we could be taken back to Chiang Mai.
Over 2 hours later, the other group finally arrived and we squeezed 12 of us into the back of the truck (all the luggage had to go on the roof) and had a very bumpy ride back to Chiang Mai.
Back in Chiang Mai, we checked back into the Kristi House and had some much needed showers. We then decided it was about time we checked out the famous Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. We walked there and looked round a little but were hungry so went to find some food. We ate at the Anusan Night Market which was an outdoor collection of restaurants within the Night Bazaar area. We had some very good (but a bit expensive) food and beer and got to watch some free Thai dancing on a nearby stage.
After dinner we explored the Night Bazaar properly - it was mainly aimed at tourists but they had some pretty good stuff and Ian bought some more silk ties. It was quite late by the time we got back to our guesthouse and we were soon asleep, after a long and tiring day.
Day 335 - Friday 9th June 2006 - Relaxing back in Chiang Mai
We got up and returned to the Blue Diamond Café for breakfast (no sign of a rat this time!). We saw a couple of English girls there who looked like they were looking for somewhere to stay so we recommended the Kristi House to them and showed them where it was. We then spent the rest of the morning on the internet, catching up with our out-of-date online diary and some other tasks.
We had lunch at [name] restaurant which was pretty good and then wandered to some 2nd hand bookshops to try and exchange some books. We managed in the end but only one of the shops was willing to buy our books from us and some of the used books available to buy were surprisingly expensive, although they did have a very good selection. Nikki then decided to try and get her hair cut and went in search of a hairdressers. She found a few but continued looking until she found one with at least a few English words in the window. The hairdresser there did speak some English and was a lot more competent than the hairdresser in Buenas Aires so Nikki was quite pleased with her 90 Baht (aboput $2.50) haircut, even if it did only take about 5 minutes to cut! Nikki then re-joined Ian back in the internet café for another couple of hours.
We were a bit stiff and sore after our trek so decided to try and get another Thai massage. We found one very easily and it was good - nice and hard - and Ian even got some extra because he was rubbing his bad hip afterwards and we think they were worried they might have done him some harm. But he was fine.
We then returned to the Night Bazaar again, this time knowing what we wanted to buy. We had some good food again in the same food area and then went on a hard bargaining spree. The first prices they were asking were always ridiculously high but we were quite successful in getting them down to what we thought were sensible numbers and we bought a number of souvenirs. Once again it was a late night by the time we got home.
Day 336 - Saturday 10th June 2006 - More internet in Chiang Mai
After 2 late nights at the Night Bazaar, we treated ourselves to a lie in today. However, we did have to get up to make it to the post office before it closed to post home our bazaar purchases. Having successfully posted these, and had the obligatory chat about the World Cup with the post office clerk, we decided it was time for breakfast, or rather brunch by now. We popped into a small eatery just around the corner from th epost affice and had some very nice and cheap noodles.
The rest of the day was mostly spent on the internet trying to get the diary up-to-date.
Later, we wandered around looking for somewhere for dinner and ended up at Daret's Restaurant. We both decided to go for a northern Thai speciality - khao sawy - which is a noodle curry dish with chicken. It was excellent. We then returned to the Chiang Mai Saloon where we got 2 of the last available seats for England's opening World Cup game against Paraguay. A French guy, Luis, joined us at the table and we chatted to him for a while - he was now living in Chiang Mai. However, as kick-off time came around, coverage changed from World Cup Football to the Thai king's 60th Jubilee celebrations, not only on the channel we were watching but on every single channel! There were a lot of unhappy people in the bar (some had apparently been there 4 hours to get a good seat!) but we heard that the UN Irish Bar down the road had satellite TV and so was still showing the football. We moved there but it was very full and we had to stand. By the time we arrived, England were already winning 1-0. After about half an hour, the King's celebrations were over for the evening and we returned to the Chiang Mai Saloon to watch the rest of the match sitting down. It was fairly dull though with no further score. We drank quite a lot of beer (especially Ian who took it upon himself to finish the beers in the Irish bar as quickly as possible while Nikki saved seats in the Chaing Mai Saloon down the road). After the game we played a bit of pool (very badly) and then headed for bed.
Day 337 - Sunday 11th June 2006 - Moving on to Chiang Rai
Another lie-in - we're trying to take things slowly in Asia, plus Ian wasn't feeling tip-top this morning! We tried to go back to the Blue Diamond for breakfast but it was closed on Sundays so we returned to Thai Thai Kitchen. We then had our final visit to our regular internet café as if we used another half hour we had earned another hour for free.
We collected our bags from the guesthouse and hopped in a sawngthaew to the bus station. The bus station was very busy with long queues but we managed to get seats on the next bus to Chiang Rai. The bus wasn't for another 90 minutes so we headed over the road for some lunch. We were a little confused why our seat numbers were 8D and 8E - surely there weren't more than 4 seats in a row? But yes, there were 5 very narrow seats across and so we had a rather squashed 4 hour bus journey.
We were pleased to arrive in Chiang Rai a little ahead of schedule and made our way across town to the Lotus Guesthouse. We were a bit worried we were going the wrong way as we had to walk through a slightly dodgy looking housing estate (at least the equivalent-looking housing estate in the UK would most definitely be dodgy) but we found it in the end, tucked away at the end of the road. The room looked fine and was our cheapest room of the trip so far at 150 Baht (about US$4) so we checked in. We showered and then headed out for dinner, looking for a recommended curry restaurant called Phetburi.
We eventually found the Phetburi restaurant, although none of the restaurants in that part of town had any visible Roman script so it was almost by chance that we ended up in the right one! There was no menu as the dishes were ready prepared in large pots. We were thinking we'd have to point and hope but luckily an English-speaking guy came to our rescue and explained briefly what the dishes were. Perhaps we should have asked for more detail as Nikki ended up with a chicken and basil curry which was by far the hottest food she had ever eaten. She could barely speak for about 10 minutes as her mouth was burning so much! Ian meanwhile had a couple of dishes which were slightly less hot. We finished our meal with some frech mango & sticky rice to cool our mouths down. This is a traditional dessert which we had not tried yet but we were surprised how good it was - we'd be looking out for it on the menu again.
We then looked for a bar showing the World Cup and again found every TV showing more coverage of the king - they do love their king over here! Finally we settled on the Teepee bar where we had a beer while waiting for the King's coverage to finish and the football to come on. It was a very strange bar, small with lots of odd decorations including spiders webs and bits of metal. It was very empty - even the staff left to sit outside - so it was just us and the odd rabbit hopping around!? When the football did come on the reception was very poor so at half time we finished our beers and went to find another bar.
We ended up in the CR49 bar, a very modern and trendy bar (with designer bathroom!) where we watched the second half of Holland v Serbia & Montenegro. It was another dull game and yet again we missed the only goal of the game while the King had been on instead.
Day 338 - Monday 12th June 2006 - Crossing the Mekong into Laos
We got up and went to Cham Cha Restaurant for breakfast. The waitress didn't speak very much English and so we were a bit concerned that we might not get what we ordered. This proved a valid concern when, having ordered 1 hot coffee, we saw her putting ice into 2 glasses! However, Nikki managed to get this changed in time with some hand signals for hot and cold. We also both got pork when we'd ordered chicken but didn't mind too much about that.
We then walked to Wat Phra Kaew to see the replica Emerald Buddha (the real one is now housed in Bangkok). There were a few buildings, including a meeting hall and monks' residences, which were all ornately decorated in red and gold. There were also some turtles in a pond just in front of the temple which housed the Emerald Buddha. The Buddha was about 2 feet high, apparently 1mm shorter than the original.
We decided that Chiang Rai was probably the right sized town that we might be able to find a replacement cd player. However, this really must be yesterday's technology as we had to go to at least 3 electronic shops before we found any at all (it's all mp3 players now...). Even once we'd found some, the cheapest brands were completely awful. We finally made a purchase - despite Ian offering 30% below the asking price, it was quickly accepted and so we thought we must still have paid too much! Apparently we had bought an authentic Thai brand and we decided that we had more faith in Thai technology than in Bolivian fake Sonys!
We returned to the guesthouse to check out and walked back to the bus terminal. Unfortunately the next bus to Chiang Khong (border town) wasn't for another 50 minutes, even though we had been told they were every 45 minutes. We resigned ourselves to a long wait but, after ½ an hour, Ian found another bus leaving immediately for a bit more money but a faster route.
It was a bumpy ride past lots of paddy fields but 2 hours later we were in Chiang Khong. We decided to have lunch this side of the border and found a nice small restaurant at the side of the market where we had another good khao sawy accompanied by some warm (bordering on hot) 7-Up (not so nice).
We then squeezed ourselves and our bags into a very small tuk-tuk for the short ride down to the border. We breezed through Thai immigration and then caught our own private longtail boat across the Mekong River for ½ the price the LP suggested (not often that that happens) towards Laos. Ian had been looking forward to this border crossing for months...
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